Senior Partnership Capacity Sharing Specialist

The Senior Partnerships Capacity Sharing Specialist will provide technical leadership to define, promote and support the IRC’s approach to effective, principled capacity sharing with local and national civil society partner organizations. S/he will facilitate the development of a vision and plan for the IRC’s capacity sharing work within the framework of Strategy 100, engaging widely internally and with partner organizations. S/he will collaborate with technical excellence, program delivery and operational counterparts to align and support inter-departmental efforts toward that vision. S/he will deliver technical assistance remotely and in-person to technical units, regions and country program colleagues globally, to foster effective, principled approaches to capacity sharing in our day to day interactions with partners, in addition to supporting and guiding broader organizational development approaches. A core component of the role is to strengthen the IRC’s ability to learn from the organizations we collaborate with.

The Governance Team, within the Technical Excellence Department, supports IRC country programs with the design and implementation of programs that amplify the voices of people whose lives have been impacted by conflict and crisis. Governance programs help them regain control of their future by championing their right to influence the issues that affect their cities, towns, and communities.

To achieve this, we:

1) Strengthen the ability of people affected by conflict and crisis to have a voice in how decisions are made in their communities;

2) Enable governments, civil society organizations, community representatives, and the IRC to respond to their voices and provide effective and inclusive services; and

3) Promote communications between leaders and the people they represent so that actions are meaningful and lasting.

Key Working Relationships:

Position reports to:Senior Director, Governance Technical Unit with reporting lines changing to Partnership Director

Major Responsibilities:

Defining capacity sharing vision and plan:

• Facilitate an inclusive process that engages staff and partners to define the IRC’s vision for capacity sharing under Strategy100 that:

O Support and promote local capacities in the contexts in which the IRC operates

O Recognizes the broad range of capacities required for effective program delivery beyond technical knowledge, such as the ability to contextualize the application of learning and standards, contextual knowledge and experience, community trust, responsiveness to community perspectives and priorities, local networks, and so on

O Emphasizes accompaniment as a responsive, partner-centered approach to capacity sharing, focused on ongoing mutual learning and support across core technical and operational functions in the context of collaborative program delivery

O Emphasizes IRC’s role as a broker, convenor, and facilitator of effective capacity support

O Encompasses the full range of capacity-sharing methodologies, from training, coaching, and mentoring, job shadowing, strategy and systems development, peer learning, and writeshops through to collaborative problem solving and cross-collaboration

O Promotes ‘systems thinking’ in our approach to capacity sharing, and aligns with and is integrated into IRC’s systems strengthening approaches

O Enhances IRC’s capacity to learn from local and national civil society partners

O Applies the IRC’s partnership principles equality, transparency, results-oriented approach, responsibility, and complementarity

O Develop a detailed plan for the delivery of that vision under the first phase of Strategy100 to 2024, and lead the delivery of that plan

Promoting effective, principled capacity sharing approaches at an institutional level:

• Lead the continued development of PEERS capacity sharing components, including tools, guided by staff and partner feedback and sector best practice

• Collaborate with counterparts in technical excellence to promote and support coherent approaches to technical capacity sharing with civil society partners

• Collaborate with finance, supply chain and other operational departments to foster effective capacity sharing approaches at the regional and country office level

• Collaborate with the emergency and humanitarian access unit to define and deliver specific approaches to capacity sharing in emergencies

• Work with human resources to define the core competencies required of staff in roles that include a significant capacity sharing focus

• Collaborate with subject matter experts across technical excellence and operational departments to identify and develop a library of resources (both existing and newly developed) that IRC staff can use when engaging in capacity sharing with partners

• Foster a network of relationships with regional and global organizations that offer capacity strengthening services, that the IRC can leverage for the benefit of partner organizations

Supporting country facing TAs on capacity sharing:

• Support country facing TAs to assist country programs to develop their strategies and implementation plans with respect to capacity sharing with local and national civil society partners

• Advise on staffing, skills and structures required for capacity sharing

• Develop and deliver training (and training of trainer) curricula focused on the development of the core capacity sharing competencies across technical excellence and operational staff, including for example coaching and mentoring skills

• Establish and where helpful facilitate platforms for cross-learning between country offices

• Establish and where helpful facilitate platforms for cross-learning between technical units

• Lead the development of capacity sharing tools and resources required by country offices

• Contribute to country business and program development where there is a significant capacity sharing focus

• Provide advisory support to staff engaged in both our day to day capacity sharing interactions with partners, as well as in broader organizational development approaches

Supporting country facing TAs on business development and representation:

• Work with TAs to identify and analyze opportunities with a significant capacity sharing focus

• Support TAs to design and develop major proposals with a significant capacity sharing focus

• Provide input on technical narratives and proposal budgets

• Engage with donors and do outreach to influence capacity sharing practices within the sector

• Representation with policy makers, donors and peers